Closely following the introduction of computer generated graphic representations of objects, computers games have been developed and have become popular to the point of becoming a significant industry. A significant factor in the continuing popularity of such games may possibly be the fact that the simulated venue or environment in which the game is played is limited only by the imagination of the game developer and can be presented to a viewer on a display with a realistic appearance which is limited only by the hardware and software employed to render associated images. Moreover, such simulated environments may be changed at will and very rapidly with rules of the game often being altered with the simulated environment. Connection of computers through networks such as the Internet has also allowed interactive participation in the same game simultaneously or at will by numerous participants.
As a synthesis of such games with other capabilities of the Internet such as interactive chat rooms, advertising and marketing and access to massive amounts of information and the like, so-called Virtual Universes (sometimes referred to as “metaverses” or “3D Internet”) have been developed and made available to the public in recent years.
A Virtual Universe is a computer-based simulated environment intended for users thereof (referred to as “residents” or “agents”) to inhabit, traverse and interact through the use of avatars. An avatar, in the context of a Virtual Universe, is a graphical representation of a user which has an appearance that is freely selectable that the user can control and other participants can see, often taking the form of a cartoon-like human which can move through the regions of the Virtual Universe represented by 3D graphics and landscapes which may or may not resemble the real world in terms of physical laws, building environments, geography and landscapes. Some examples of virtual universes available to the public include Second Life® (“Second Life” is a trademark of Linden Research, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries), Entropia Universe™ (“Entropia Universe” is a trademark of Mindark PE AB in Sweden and/or other countries), and There® (“There” is a trademark of Forterra Systems, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries). Examples of massively multiplayer online games include EverQuest® (“EverQuest” is a trademark of Sony Online Entertainment. LLC in the United States and/or other countries), Ultima Online® (“Ultima Online” is a trademark of Electronic Arts, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries) or World of Warcraft World of Warcraft® (“World of Warcraft” is a trademark of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries). Publically available virtual universes and/or massively multiplayer online games are operated by persons or companies who provide servers to generate portions of the Virtual Universe and which may impose a charge for participation as a resident, to establish a particular object or environment (sometimes referred to as an “island”) within the Virtual Universe, present advertising and the like or combinations thereof. In short, an avatar controlled by a resident can interact with other avatars, objects and portions of the immediate environment of the avatar in much the same way a person would interact with other persons, objects and portions of the environment in the real world but where transportation between portions of the Virtual Universe may be nearly instantaneous (e.g. referred to as “teleporting”) and objects and local environments within the Virtual Universe may be entirely developed at will to resemble the real world closely, not at all or with any degree of realism or fantasy in between which may be provided by the administrator of the Virtual Universe or users of the Virtual Universe, often for a not insubstantial fee. Further, once such objects or local environments become part of a Virtual Universe, fees can be charged for use made of them through avatars. On the other hand, many entities have found it advantageous to provide environments closely resembling real world facilities or locales to allow users to experience, though avatars and with a significant degree of realism, particular locales in the real world and a sampling of the likely inhabitants thereof.